Warning light for motor vehicles



Aug. 9, 1949.

J. J. BRASINGTON E'IAL Filed June 5, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet l N T t E N mIn Wm Q Q N '0 I 8 k m Q Im v 8,000; n

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In ven tars John J. Brasington Bennie T. Brasingfon g- 1949- J. J.BRASINGTON ETAL 2,478,178

WARNING LIGHT FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Filed June 5, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 26.Fig.2.

[/1 rel/tors Bennie 7T Brasingfon atentecl Aug. 9, 1949 T oFFicE WARNINGLIGHT FOR: MOTOR VEHICLES John .I. Brasington and Bennie T. Brasington,

gnors to William E. Big- Gainesvill'e, Fla., ,assi

ham, Jr., and Albert Fla us Miller, both of Brooker,

Applicationlune 5, 19%, Serial N 0. 752,752.

7' Claims. (Cl. 177 -327) The presentinvention, relates to new anduseful improvements in warning lights for automobiles or other motorvehicles and more particularly to a revolving light mounted on the topof an automobile whereby the light may be observed from all directions.

An important object of the invention is to provide a lamp housingrotatably mounted on the top of the vehicle and having an. electricmotor mounted in the, housing and arranged to rotate the housing.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel clutch controlmeans between the housing and the motor to control rotation of thehousing.

Another object is to provide a lamp housing rotatably mounted on thetop'of a vehicle and having a lamp mounted in one end of the housing,together with motor operated means for rotating the housing and swingingthe, lamp in a horizontal circle together with control means between themotor and the housing and an-indicator on the control means to indicatethe direction in which the lamp is pointed.

A still further object. is to provide a deviceof this character ofsimple and practical construction, which is etficient and reliable inoperation, relatively inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise welladapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects, and advantages reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafterdescribed and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein likenumerals refer to like parts throughouhand inwhich:

Figure 1 is a verticalsectional view of the lamp housing and mounting"therefor.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on a line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the clutch control meanstakenon aline 3-3 of Figure 1, and

Figure 4 is a diagramoitheelectric'circuit for the lamp and motoroperating means for the lamp housing.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein for the purpose ofillustration, we have disclosed a. preferredembodiment of theinventionthe numeral 5' designates a hollow base which is secured to the top 6'of an automobile or other inc-tor vehicle by bolts or the like 1.

The base 5 is formed with a tubular socket 8 at its central portion inwhich the lower end of a stationary hollow shaft 9 is secured by meansend of the housin H tion is supported control rodiifi-having 2 of a setscrew or the like one side of the base.

The shaft 9 extends upwardly throughahorizontally positioned cylindricallamp'ho'using I], the housing having bearin assemblies I2recessed in itsupper and lower portions and surrounding the shaft. 9 to provideanti-friction rotary. means between the housing and the shaft. One endof the housing. H is closed by a lens itv behind which is positioned areflector J4 having a lamp socket 15. 'at. its'central portion and inwhich a lamp it is mounted. A circuit wire l7 extends from the, base ofthe socket I5 toa terminal l8. secured in. the housing. and. havingelectrical connection. with a conductor. ring I 9 secured on. the bottomof the. housing by means of an insulation disk 20. The conductor ringI0, threaded through 19 and disk 29 are-enclosed inanannular flange 2|rising from the base 5, and outwardly'of which is a dust ring 22extending downwardly from the bottom of the housing H.

A spring projected brush- 231s.- recessed inthe top of the housingwith acircuit wire 2% leading therefrom to a switch 25. mounted intheunderside of the top ii of the vehicle.-

'An electric motor25 issupportecl .in thez rear by: means of a suitablebracket 27! and is electrically connected to the terminal 58 by acircuit'wire28.

To the motor shaft 29 isatta'ched aigear iifl and with which a gear 3|is movable into andout of engagement. The gear 3| is slidably'mounted onthestationary shaft 9,.and the gear 3 l'is'held against rotation by aplurality of arms 32 pivoted to one side of the gear 31 by 'brackets 33and projecting radially through longitudinally extending slots 343 inthe-shaft 91 The arms 32 are normally held in a horizontal 'position bycoil springs connecting the outer ends' of -thea-rms to the shaft 9.

A coil'spring 35 surrounds the shaft B'un'der the gear 3i and holds thegear in-araisedposition in engagement with the gear 30. j A guide rod3'! of polygonal shape in, cross-secin a vertical position. in the shaft9 from a cover plate'38f closing the upper end'of the shaft 9 andweldedior otherwisesuitably secured to the top of the housing. A

a polygonal ibore' lfl extending therethrough"conforming. to; the" rod"31 is slidably mountedbn the rod 31"and 'exten'ds'dow'nwardly through anopening 4| in the top 6 of the vehicle. To the lower end of the rod 39is secured a pointer 42 and the upper end of the conwise be energized.The coil spring holds the gear 3| in engagement with the gear 39whereupon the rotation of motor will cause the housing 'by turning thepointer 42 which wardly into the slots on a vehicle for tween the motorand ary gear slidably carried thereby,

for horizontal rotation,

trol rod 39 is provided with an outwardly extending flange 43.

The switch 25 is connected in a circuit with the battery 44 of the motorvehicle and upon closing the switch 25, the motor 26 will be energizedthrough the brush 23 and conductor ring 19 and at the same time, thelamp IE will like- 36 normally the gear 30 by the H to rotate on thestationary shaft 9 since the gear 3| is held stationary to said shaft.

When it is desired to hold the housing ll stationary while the lamp I6is energized the pointer 42 is used as a handle whereby to pull the rod39 downwardly causing the flange 43 to engage the inner ends of the arms32 to thus lower the ear 3| out of engagement with the gear 30 and theswitch 25 may then be closed to energize the lamp l6 while the housingll remains stationary.

The housing Il may also be manually rotated in turn will rotate thehousing through the rod 39 and guide rod 31.

The pivoted arms 32 and springs 35 enable removal and replacement of rod39 by sliding a semi-cylindrical sleeve (not shown) upwardly in tube 9to engage and swing the arms 32 up- 34, whereupon the flange 43 at theupper end of rod 39 may be pulled downwardly out of the tube 9. Thesprings 35 normally hold the arms 32 horizontally and the inner ends ofthe arms are limited in their downward swinging movement when the flange43 is moved downwardly by rod 39 to release the gear Having describedthe invention what is claimed as new is:

1. A warning lamp for motor vehicles comprising a lamp housing providedwith a lamp opening, means rotatably supporting the housing horizontalrotation, an electric circuit extending into the housing and having alamp and a motor connected thereto, a drive connection between the motorand the housing,

and clutch means for said drive connection, said motor and clutch meansbeing enclosed in the housing, and manually operated control means =;forsaid clutch means positioned outwardly of the housing.

- '2. A warning prising a lamp housing having an opening, meansrotatably supporting the housing on a vehicle lamp for motor vehiclescomfor horizontal rotation, an electric circuit extending into thehousing and having a lamp and a motor connected thereto, a driveconnection bethe housing and clutch means for said drive connection,said first named means including a stationary shaft and a stationandsaid drive connection including a gear driven by the motor and engagingsaid stationary gear.

3. A warning lamp for motor vehicles comprising a lamp housing having anopening, means housing on a vehicle an electric circuit extending intothe housing and having a lamp and a motor connected'thereto, a driveconnection between the motor and the housing and clutch means for saiddrive connection, said first named rotatably supporting the 4 meansincluding a stationary shaft and a stationary gear slidably carriedthereby, and said drive connection including a gear driven by the motorand engaging said stationary gear, and said last named means operatingto engage and disengage said gears.

4. A warning lamp for motor vehicles comprising a lamp housing having anopening, a base mounted on a vehicle and including an upstanding hollowstationary shaft rotatably supporting, the housing for horizontalrotation, a stationary gear slidably mounted on said shaft, a motor inthe housing having a drive pinion engaging the stationary gear, andmeans operable outwardly of the housing for sliding said stationary gearinto and out of engagement with the pinion.

5. A warning lamp for motor vehicles comprising a lamp housing having anopening, a base mounted on a vehicle and including an upstanding hollowstationary shaft rotatably supporting the housing for horizontalrotation, a stationary gear slidably mounted on said shaft, a motor inthe housing having a drive pinion engaging the stationary gear and meansoperable outwardly of the housing for slidingsaid stationary gear intoand out of engagement with the pinion, said means including a controlrod projecting through the base into a vehicle.

6. A warning lamp for motor vehicles comprising a lamp housing having anopening, a base mounted on a vehicle and including an upstanding hollowstationary shaft rotatably supporting the housing for horizontalrotation, a stationary gear slidably mounted on said shaft, a motor inthe housing having a drive pinion engaging the stationary gear, andmeans operable outwardly of the housing for sliding said stationary gearinto and out of engagement with the pinion, said means including acontrol rod projecting through the base into a vehicle, and having apointer to indicate the position of the housing.

'7. A warning lamp for motor vehicles comprising a lamp housing havingan opening, a base mounted on a vehicle and including an upstand inghollow stationary shaft rotatably supporting the housing for horizontalrotation, a stationary gear slidably mounted on said shaft, a motor inthe housing having a drive pinion engaging the stationary gear, andmeans operable outwardly of the'housing for sliding said stationary gearinto and out of engagement with the pinion, said means including aslidable control rod rotatable rod to indicate the position of thehousing.

JOHN J. BRASINGTON. BENNIE T. BRASINGTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,665,584 Eddy April 10, 19281,691,011 Jackson Nov. 6, 1928 1,781,888 Weidlinger Nov. 18, 19302,039,647 House May 5, 1936 2,289,482 Carlson July 14, 1942

